Lisa Davis, an assistant police chief for the Cincinnati Police Department, and Jeffrey B. Norman, police chief at the Milwaukee Police Department, are the two finalists in Austin’s search for its next police chief. Tuesday’s announcement…
The Arts Commission wants City Council to give an initial endorsement to an ambitious plan to improve and expand the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum, which is managed in partnership with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. At…
City Council members heard a briefing Tuesday on a far-reaching food plan designed to eliminate historical barriers to food access in Austin and Travis County. If all goes as planned, the draft proposal will return to City Council on Aug.…
Austin Energy is working with a variety of community representatives to inform new power generation goals targeting 2035. The city adopted its 2030 plan about five years ago but a number of factors have changed, including increases in peak…
Dallas-based real estate developer Eureka Holdings is once again ruffling feathers on 12th Street, with an application to demolish a century-old storefront at the Comal Street intersection meeting some resistance from the city’s Historic…
Monday was the deadline to file campaign finance reports for members of City Council and other candidates in the November election. No one was surprised last week when the Austin Monitor reported that Mayor Kirk Watson had raised more than…
This week, City Council is expected to consider four items related to the expansion of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, with nearly $2 billion in spending up for approval by the end of September. The four contracts on Thursday’s…
The early draft of the city’s 2025 budget weighs in at $5.9 billion, a $400 million increase over the current budget. City Manager T.C. Broadnax said the balanced budget offers increases in city staff compensation and benefits despite…
During the Airport Advisory Commission meeting July 10, Deputy Chief of Air Service Jamy Kazanoff updated commissioners on a slight drop in seat capacity for August – so maybe start booking those late summer vacations now. Plus, when a new…
City Council is scheduled to consider hiring J.P. Morgan Securities LLC to advise on the potential sale of Austin Energy’s district cooling system, but not everyone thinks that is a good idea. The Resource Management Commission will likely…
A coalition of more than 40 community groups is hoping the new city manager has found room in the next city budget for nearly $80 million of spending to address homelessness, economic insecurity and an assortment of other progressive…
After an uphill battle for recognition, things are looking up for Bethany Cemetery, with a vote at this month’s Historic Landmark Commission meeting initiating the site’s historic zoning process. The cemetery, founded in 1893 by and for…
Monday is the deadline for all City Council candidates to turn in their campaign finance reports for the period that ended on June 30. Politics watchers expect Mayor Kirk Watson to raise far more than his opponents as he has…
At its June 27 meeting, the Travis County Commissioners Court considered spending $250 million to $300 million to expand the county’s juvenile detention complex in South Austin. A united front of more than 50 justice advocates voiced…
For a city of its size, Austin has a low rate of homicides from gun violence, averaging four per 100,000 residents over a 15-year period. But an “alarming” spike in shooting incidents following the Covid-19 pandemic – from January 2021…
Changes to city code that could affect the regulation of group homes for seniors and people with disabilities prompted a request for City Council to make further adjustments to the Land Development Code. The Mayor’s Committee for People…
A city department head who disapproved of her employee’s social media posts about city management has filed a human resources complaint against him, an unusual move that gives her the power to validate her own complaint and field any…
Members of the Music Commission and Arts Commission have assembled a list of 31 recommendations detailing how the reconstructed Austin Convention Center could best support the local creative community. The recommendations from the Urban…
The Animal Advisory Commission is urging the city to allow pets inside designated cooling centers as summer heats up. The commission unanimously passed a recommendation that urges the city to identify “a number of cooling centers…
The Downtown Commission wants the city to approve an updated version of the Downtown Austin Plan by next summer, with a draft document expected early next year to allow the commission to make needed budget recommendations next spring. At a…
City Manager T.C. Broadnax has notified City Council that staff will be seeking approval during the July 18 meeting to hire J.P. Morgan Securities LLC to provide “strategic advice about the potential sale of Austin Energy’s district…
Drivers line up down the street to grab groceries from a small, white house in the Dunbar neighborhood of San Marcos. For some time, the renovated house worked fine for the Hays County Food Bank, but as more and more…
Austinites can prepare to add their water bill to the list of services getting increasingly more expensive, as a proposal for hikes in utility rates makes its way through City Council’s pipeline. The proposal, which Austin Water unveiled…
The firm selected to lead in the redevelopment of a former utility yard in Crestview doesn’t expect the city’s recent changes to land use for transit-oriented developments to impact its plans for the site that has long been earmarked for…
The Austin Animal Center has stopped accepting any more animals until further notice. Jason Garza, deputy chief animal services officer, said the shelter has so many dogs and cats that it’s overcapacity. As of Tuesday, there were 683…
City Council members have been taking sides on the City Council Message Board over competing timelines for a climate bond election, and on Wednesday the proposal for a longer lead-up was left standing. The back-and-forth on the message…
The Music Commission plans to ask the city to provide emergency storage space and funding for the Texas Music Museum, which is facing overcrowding at its East Austin location and the possible loss of gratis storage space in an Austin…
Travis County’s public hospital district that funds medical care for low-income residents plans to accelerate its introduction of new clinical services in its next budget year. Care for psychiatry, endocrinology and rheumatology are among…
City fleet officials updated the Public Safety Commission on Monday about their plan to add a fleet of electric vehicles for the Austin Police Department as part of an effort to meet the city’s net-zero emission target by 2040. The…
The Austin Community College District Board of Trustees on Monday approved a 4.5 percent across-the-board raise for employees. The new compensation package also increases the hourly minimum wage from $22 to $23, which also works out to a 4…